Universal tailpipe bracket

ABSTRACT

A specially shaped bracket, designed for use in the mounting of automotive tailpipes or exhaust pipes, has flange sections that enable it to be attached on the one hand to the body or chassis of an automobile and on the other hand to a pipe clamp in a wide variety of arrangements thereby standardizing the pipe mounting structures and consequently reducing the cost thereof.

United States Patent 1191 Case Jan. 16, 1973 54 UNIVERSAL TAILPIPEBRACKET 3,606,217 9 1971 Leiferman ..248/57 x 1,904,330 4/1933 Ruff..248/74 R X [75] lnvenmr Day"! Case Lake 2,884,670 5/1959 Garrison..248/221 [73] Assignee: Tenneco Inc., Racine, Wis. [22] Filed Feb 91971 Primary Examiner-Chancellor E. Harris [2 1' 113 95 5Attorney-Harness, Dickey & Pierce [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl ..248/74 R,248/221, 248/300 A Specially Shaped bracket, designed for use in the[51] Int. Cl ..Fl6l 3/10 mounting of automotive tailpipes or exhaustpipes, has [58] of Search "248/74 74 flange sections that enable it tobe attached on the one 248/43 300 hand to the body or chassis of anautomobile and on References Cited the other hand to a pipe clamp in awide variety of arrangements thereby standardizing the pipe mountingstructures and consequently reducing the cost thereof.

9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEUJAH 16 I975 j v INVENTOR. jay/J /76456 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The exhaust pipe and tailpipe sectionsof the modern automobile exhaust system are of intricate shape due tothe requirement that they fit in spaces that are available after thedesign of the automobile has been completed. These sections must besecured to the underbody or the chassis of the automobile and the pointson the automobile capable of receiving a pipe attaching bracket are notoften located in such a manner as to make mounting a simple problem.Consequently, in the past, it has been customary or necessary on eachmodel of automobile to use a variety of clamp structures or to weldbrackets to the tailpipe or exhaust pipe thereby increasing the pipecost and making them more difficult to handle and to put in place.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the purpose of this invention todevise a bracket configuration of such a nature that one bracket may besubstituted for many brackets or mounting means of the type heretoforeused.

The invention accomplishes this by means of a specially formed sheetmetal bracket that has mounting flanges extending at right angles toeach other and which includes a space between certain of the flangesthrough which the tailpipe or exhaust pipe can extend. The bracketincludes openings that will receive the usual U-shaped wire pipe clampwhich can be bolted in place on the bracket to firmly secure the pipe tothe bracket.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view, with parts ofthe automobile shown in phantom lines, of a section of an exhaust systemconduit clamped to two brackets constructed in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view looking down on the top of the upper bracket shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the upper bracket of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a front elevatio n-of the bracket of FIG. 1 or a view takenfrom the point 4 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In FIG. I the bent exhaust gasconduit 1 for an automotive exhaust system is clamped by means of U-shaped wire clamp members 3 and 4 to brackets 5 and 7 which in turn arebolted, respectively, to a hanger member 9 and a frame member 11 of theautomobile. Clamp 3 is secured firmly to the bracket 5 by nuts 13 whichthread on its ends and clamp 4 is secured in a similar manner to thebracket 7, the clamp 4 also extending through a convenient saddlestructure 15'. The brackets 5 and 7 are identical in structure and FIG.1 merely shows them disposed in different positions so as to illustratethe universal nature of the bracket structure. Thus, reference herein tothe bracket 5 is to be construed as a description also of the bracket 7.

, The bracket 5 is formed by pressing, piercing, and folding operationsfrom strips of sheet metal, preferably low carbon steel. It includes abase section 15 which extends across the full width of the bracket andcontains two oblong holes or slots 17 which in the usage illustrated inFIG. I serve as the apertures that receive the ends of the U-shapedclamps 3 and 4. At opposite ends of the base section 15 are leg sections19 which lie in the plane of the base section 15. The leg sections 19,however, have end flanges 21 which extend at right angles to thesections 19 and the base section 15. The flanges 21 are of substantiallength, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, their lengths being substantially thesame as the height of the bracket as seen in FIG. 4.

Projecting upwardly from the flat portion of the base section 15 is atongue in the form of a central attachment flange portion 23 which isseparated from the leg sections 19 by the cutouts 25. As seen best inFIGS. 2 and 3, the flange 23 is offset from the plane of the base 15 andleg sections 19 so as to provide a space or slot 27 between the innerface 31 of the offset and the plane of the leg sections 19. The offset23 preferably extends a slight distance above the end flanges 21 a seenbest in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The end flanges 21 have holes 33 formed in them near their ends and theflange 23 has similar holes 35 formed in it adjacent its outer edgewhich, by virtue, of the extension of flange 23 are aligned with flanges21 as seen in FIG. 3. The holes 33 and 35 are of size to pass bolts orscrews that may be used to tightly secure the bracket 5 in position onthe hangers or frame members (such as 9 or 1 l) of the automobile.

As seen in the illustrated usages of FIG. 1, the pipe is clamped tightlyagainst the base section 15 and either the end flanges 21 or the centralflange 23 is used as the mounting means to secure the bracket to ahanger or frame member. In the upper support of FIG. 1 a central flange23 is used as the attachment section and it will be seen that the hanger9 fits in the gap 27 so that the bracket embraces its bottom edge. Inthe arrangement of the lower bracket 7 of FIG. 1 the end flanges 21 areattached to the frame member 11 and the central flange 23 is located ina non-interfering position.

It will be apparent that the bracket of this invention may be positionedand attached to the frame in a wide variety of ways and that the clamps3 and 4 may be secured to a wide variety of positions on pipe 1. Thebracket design enables it to be used in different positions to mate upwith all of the various pipe support members provided on certain makeautomobiles for a several year period, thus eliminating the need to usedifferent pipes with different welded-on brackets for each yearautomobile and effecting a large inventory savings of replacement parts.

Modifications and variations may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A mounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipecomprising a member having a base section and a support sectionextending at substantially a right angle to the base section, saidsupport section having attachment holes with axes substantially parallelto the base section and said base section having attachment holes withaxes substantially parallel to the support section, said base sectionhaving holes therein to receive a clamp for securing a pipe to the basesection, said support section comprising spaced legs at opposite ends ofthe base section, said base section having a central attachment flangelocated between said legs and offset from the plane of the base sectionin a direction opposite to the support section, said base sectionattachment holes being formed in said offset flange.

2. A bracket as set forth in claim 1 wherein said holes in theattachment flange are substantially in planar alignment with the supportsection.

3. A mounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipe or thelike comprising a member having a base section and a support sectionextending at substantially a right angle to the base section, saidsupport section having attachment holes with axes substantially parallelto the base section and said base section having attachment holes, withaxes substantially parallel to the support section, said base sectionhaving holes therein to receive a clamp for securing a pipe to the basesection, said base section having an attachment flange formed thereinand substantially parallel to but offset from the plane of the basesection in a direction opposite to the support section, said basesection attachment holes being formed in said offset flange.

4. A mounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipe or thelike comprising a member having a substantially flat base section and afirst support section extending at substantially a right angle to thebase section, said member having a second support section extendingsubstantially parallel to said base section and offset therefrom in adirection opposite to the first support section, said first supportsection having attachment holes with axes substantially parallel to thebase section and said second support section having attachment holeswithaxes substantially parallel to the first support section, said basesection having holes therein to receive a clamp for securing a pipe tothe base section.

5. A bracket as set forth in claim 4 wherein said first support sectioncomprises spaced legs at opposite ends of the base section and onopposite sides of said second support section.

6. A bracket as set forth in claim 4 wherein said member comprises asingle integral piece of sheet metal andnthe first support section isbent in one direction from said base sectionand said second supportsection is bent in the opposite direction from said base section.

7. A mounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipe or thelike comprising a member having a base section and a pair of legsections located respectively at opposite ends'of the base section, saidleg sec-.

tions having end flanges extending at substantially right angles to thebase section, said end flanges having attachment holes with axessubstantially parallel to the base section, said member having centralattachment flange located between and separated from the leg sectionsand offset from the plane of the base section to provide a slotbetween'it and the leg sections, said attachment flange havingattachment holes with axes substantially perpendicular to the basesection, said base section having holes therein to receive a clamp forsecuring a pipe to the base section.

8. A bracket as set forth in claim 7 wherein said end flanges have alength substantially the same as the height of the base section.

9. A mounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipe or thelike comprising a member having a substantially flat base section andsubstantially flat first and second support sections extending atsubstantially

1. A mounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipecomprising a member having a base section and a support sectionextending at substantially a right angle to the base section, saidsupport section having attachment holes with axes substantially parallelto the base section and said base section having attachment holes withaxes substantially parallel to the support section, said base sectionhaving holes therein to receive a clamp for securing a pipe to the basesection, said support section comprising spaced legs at opposite ends ofthe base section, said base section having a central attachment flangelocated between said legs and offset from the plane of the base sectionin a direction opposite to the support section, said base sectionattachment holes being formed in said offset flange.
 2. A bracket as setforth in claim 1 wherein said holes in the attachment flange aresubstantially in planar alignment with the support section.
 3. Amounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipe or the likecomprising a member having a base section and a support sectionextending at substantially a right angle to the base section, saidsupport section having attachment holes with axes substantially parallelto the base section and said base section having attachment holes withaxes substantially parallel to the support section, said base sectionHaving holes therein to receive a clamp for securing a pipe to the basesection, said base section having an attachment flange formed thereinand substantially parallel to but offset from the plane of the basesection in a direction opposite to the support section, said basesection attachment holes being formed in said offset flange.
 4. Amounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipe or the likecomprising a member having a substantially flat base section and a firstsupport section extending at substantially a right angle to the basesection, said member having a second support section extendingsubstantially parallel to said base section and offset therefrom in adirection opposite to the first support section, said first supportsection having attachment holes with axes substantially parallel to thebase section and said second support section having attachment holeswith axes substantially parallel to the first support section, said basesection having holes therein to receive a clamp for securing a pipe tothe base section.
 5. A bracket as set forth in claim 4 wherein saidfirst support section comprises spaced legs at opposite ends of the basesection and on opposite sides of said second support section.
 6. Abracket as set forth in claim 4 wherein said member comprises a singleintegral piece of sheet metal and the first support section is bent inone direction from said base section and said second support section isbent in the opposite direction from said base section.
 7. A mountingbracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaust pipe or the likecomprising a member having a base section and a pair of leg sectionslocated respectively at opposite ends of the base section, said legsections having end flanges extending at substantially right angles tothe base section, said end flanges having attachment holes with axessubstantially parallel to the base section, said member having centralattachment flange located between and separated from the leg sectionsand offset from the plane of the base section to provide a slot betweenit and the leg sections, said attachment flange having attachment holeswith axes substantially perpendicular to the base section, said basesection having holes therein to receive a clamp for securing a pipe tothe base section.
 8. A bracket as set forth in claim 7 wherein said endflanges have a length substantially the same as the height of the basesection.
 9. A mounting bracket for an automotive tailpipe or exhaustpipe or the like comprising a member having a substantially flat basesection and substantially flat first and second support sectionsextending at substantially right angles to each other, said firstsupport section having first attachment holes with axes substantiallyparallel to the base section, said second support section having secondattachment holes with axes substantially parallel to the first supportsection and defining a plane substantially parallel to the plane of thefirst support section, said base section having holes therein to receivea clamp for securing a pipe to the base section and with axessubstantially parallel to the axes of said second attachment holes.